The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Soon, Zhou Chu and Princess Deqing finalized some other details of the partnership.

Princess Deqing then instructed her steward to retrieve 600,000 strings of cash from the treasury, deposit it in a money exchange, and then retrieve banknotes from the money exchange.

Six hundred thousand strings of cash is a huge sum even for the princess's residence. Such a large amount of money is usually kept directly in the treasury and only deposited into a money exchange when needed.

The money shops of this era were mostly run by people from Jiangnan. Although they had a good reputation among the people, frankly speaking, they were still under the control of people like Yang Ting and Xia Yan. Once these people turned against them, they wouldn't listen to reason anymore.

That is, I will deposit so much money now because I need it, since cash is more convenient to spend.

Six hundred thousand strings of cash would require dozens of horse-drawn carriages to transport. If you were to use those copper coins to buy shops, you'd be exhausted.

Even the princess's residence has never had such a large expenditure in all these years.

The lunch was a very enjoyable meal for both the host and guests.

After finishing their meal, everyone got up to say goodbye.

After leaving the princess's residence, Zhou Chu arrived at Shuntian Prefecture.

"Weighing instrument, what brings you here?"

Upon seeing Zhou Chu, the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture immediately broke into a wide grin.

For him, every time someone came to find him, it was only for good reasons, never bad; they would always give him and his subordinates money, more or less.

He knew this young man was no ordinary person; at such a young age, he had a close relationship with Minister Han of the Ministry of Revenue, and his intentions were certainly not simple.

But so what?

For the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, his life was not as complicated as that of the civil officials in the court, who had to calculate so much every day.

Zhou Chu, as a young and promising talent, seeks justice for himself and incidentally gives himself money as a reward for his efforts. What's wrong with that? How reasonable is that?

We cannot discourage young people or cut off the path for talented young people.

"Your Excellency, I've come to pay my respects since it's been a long time since I last visited you."

Zhou Chu smiled.

He then had the men following behind him carry in a large jar of Chenwang wine and place it on the table in front of the Shuntian Prefect.

The Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, smelling the aroma of the wine in front of him, immediately revealed an expression of intoxication.

He had intended to drink the Chenwang wine that Zhou Chu had given him sparingly, but he loved wine so much that he couldn't keep it and finished it in just a few days.

Given Chen Wang Niang's current reputation in the capital, it would be difficult to buy even a small jar, let alone such a large one.

Only at Zuixianlou can you drink as much as you want.

The Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture had been craving this for the past two days, and now he's unexpectedly found a perfect opportunity.

"The weighing instrument is very thoughtful."

The Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture naturally wouldn't pretend to treat Zhou Chu, as the two had been acquaintances for many years.

"There is something I would like to ask for your help with, sir. To be precise, I would like to ask for your help with Princess Deqing."

As Zhou Chu spoke, he took out ten banknotes and placed them discreetly in front of the prefect.

The prefect glanced at it; each note had a face value of one thousand strings of copper coins, roughly equivalent to one thousand taels of silver. However, the money was deposited in copper coins, and the notes were naturally issued in copper coins, since the exchange rate between copper coins and silver was always fluctuating.

Ten banknotes were placed in front of the prefect.

The prefect did not immediately put away the money notes.

Ten thousand strings of copper coins is no small sum. The Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture was shrewd enough to understand that, given Zhou Chu's personality, the more money he gave him, the bigger the task he wanted him to accomplish.

“Oh? Princess Deqing, then I am willing to help, but only if it is within my power.”

The prefect spoke with perfect discretion and made no empty promises.

"Rest assured, Your Excellency, this matter is of little importance to you. It was Your Excellency who seized the shops that Her Highness wanted to buy."

Zhou Chu smiled and took a sip of tea.

Upon hearing this, the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture was startled, thinking to himself that this young man had actually gotten involved with the Princess's residence.